Revelation 11 (Part I) Measure yourself

By Odon Bulamba (10 February 2006) Summary only


Revelations 11:1-6 “I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.”

These two witnesses were human beings like you and me and God rose them up to be witnesses of God. John was told to measure the temple which is not a physical temple but is represented by people and the way they will be measured will be through these two messengers.

When you go to a dressmaker to have a skirt made for you, the dressmaker will measure your waist and height because if they don’t you will get a skirt that does not fit you and looks strange. The same with the church, we must use a perfect measure and the only thing God uses is His Word. You have to ask yourself, how big is my faith? How good am I in loving people? How good am I at sharing or respecting or praying? Who am I in front of the Word of God? Be honest with your conscience. Try to measure yourself because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and if you know how to measure your body perfectly you will be a perfect Christian. By measuring yourself you will know if you are at the place God expects you to be or if you have to make a catch up.

John was told to measure the temple by himself, he didn’t need any one to assist him and we have to measure ourselves. Ask yourself, ‘am I ready to serve God? Am I ready to pray?’ Sometimes people want to impress others when they pray by screaming loudly and with tongues but they know it doesn’t come from God and if they are pretending it is a sin and a mockery against God, they just want to show everybody that they are better than others but this is a big mistake. If you are the temple of the Holy Spirit then don’t allow your body to be led by the spirit of darkness. This means your actions, and attitude must be clean.

John was told to measure the alter which is a place of sacrifice and is found in the second part of the temple in the Holy Place where only those who were clean spiritually could go.

To measure yourself in the Kingdom of God is to give your life to God for Him to control. The alter is a place where you put things on top and when we put ourselves on top of others and humiliate them and make ourselves higher God is unhappy because He has given us a position of authority but we have to know how to use it to help others. We have to accept others the way they are and not to criticize them because that is to say God made a mistake and shows we are unable to measure things correctly and we go beyond the limit God has set for us. Our way of talking can shock others so we have to know how to measure our tongue because whatever you confess will either build up or destroy and people recognize by your tongue whether you are a Christian or not.

John was told to measure those worshipping in the temple, what does worship mean? It means to give Him praises for all that He has done and to give ourselves and our time to Him. Most of the time when we glorify God we use repetition but to repeat is not to glorify God. Tell God about yourself first, what you went through today or your entire week and by telling Him God will know this person is really grateful and this is worship. How many times do you worship a day, how many times do you find time to thank God for all that He’s done for you and your family? We have to know how to glorify God with our work and our time, the secret of receiving is giving and if you do not give then you will not receive.

We need to know how to measure our temple (body) our alter (mouth) and then the way you are worshipping (how and when do I?). If you are not able to measure yourself and know who you are, how will you know who God is?

SUMMARY

1. We have to measure ourselves against the Word of God

2. Ask yourself questions (how big is my faith, how good am I at loving/praying etc)

3. If you know how to measure yourself perfectly, you will be a perfect Christian

4. To measure yourself in the Kingdom of God is to give your life to God for Him to control

5. To measure your alter is to measure your tongue (by your way of speaking people will know whether you are a Christian or not)

6. We have to measure the way we worship (praise God for all He does for us)